Life Improvement

Weekly Overview 08.30.1

Outside My Window… sunshine and white fluffy clouds, which is a welcome change from the cloudy skies we’ve had the last week.

I am thinking… about how noisy it is right now. The neighbor on the south is getting a new roof, while one of the neighbor’s to the east is running a leaf blower. Today this is not a quiet neighborhood.

I am thankful for… being high and dry. Harvey’s rain all go east of us and we will not receive any of it’s wrath.

I am hoping… the new fence / gate installation gets done today. Yesterday the contractor came by to take measurements and see exactly where I want my compost bin alcove to go. He indicated they’d be back today to build it. I can’t wait to see the transformation.

I am busy creating… plants. Out of six geranium starts, one is still alive, so my success record there is not very good. I planted collards and curly kale sets yesterday and am still looking for Swiss chard, mustard, and any other fall greens I can find. I have romaine lettuce and kale ends sitting in water on my kitchen counter, which are putting out a few roots and growing some fresh green tops. Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to plant them outside soon. The small green onion ends that I’ve been saving from my salads have taken off well. I put them in a container outside last week and five of the seven have survived. I have five more ends in water on the counter – as soon as they begin putting out new green shoots, they will be planted outside into a container. Hopefully, before long, I’ll be able to just go outside and cut the tops off for my salad and leave the root end in the container to grow out new tops.

The propagation center.

I am hearing… the pounding of nails into the neighbor’s roof.

Around the house… the office has a new overhead light. The previous light put out a maximum of 1100 lumens. The new light can put out 2700 lumens, and Bill also installed a dimmer switch so we can adjust what we need. I haven’t used my computer since he installed the new light, but I’m hopeful that the light will reach over into my corner of the room, enabling me to see items on my desk more clearly.

Around the garden… my plants are enjoying the cooler days (temperatures only in the 80s this past week) and the rain water (3+ inches last Thursday morning). My zinnias continue to attract butterflies and hummingbirds – so fun to watch. And my African violets are recovering from my efforts to get rid of all the mealy bugs. I do a thorough inspection every Thursday and so far, ‘ve only had one plant that has shown any further evidence of bugs and they were easily removed. Most of the plants are beginning to bloom, which is a good indication that they are happier.

In other news… I’m back to using webmail. Bill had the mail server fixed for about ten days, and then this Sunday it when kaplooey again. He’s been working at it, trying to figure out what’s going on this time, but in the meantime, it’s webmail and gmail.

One of my favorite things… the robotic pool cleaner. He was expensive as hell, but he has certainly freed up my time to get other things done. No more hours spent each week brushing the sides and bottom of the pool and then vacuuming the pool. It is wonderful!

Our Weekly Overview…

Karen: A Master Gardener meeting Friday, but since Bill has the day off and we’re planning a weekend away, I’m not planning on attending. I’ve been working on Quicken (yes, actually, finally, working on Quicken!), dealing with contractors (still), and also car maintenance (the Dart had an oil change Tuesday and will, hopefully, have the tires rotated on Thursday). Friday we will travel to Paris, Texas, for a square dance weekend.

Bill: Bill will be working from home every day this week except Friday – he’s taking a comp day on Friday. That will make a four day weekend for him, which he well deserves. We should be home from our square dance weekend sometime Sunday afternoon in time for the Darlington Race Sunday evening. Monday is Labor Day and I’m sure we’ll find some project around the house to labor on.

David: David had Monday and Tuesday off, and works the rest of the week. He continues to keep himself busy in his free hours by working on his Atomic Space game, which you can follow the progress of via Atomic Space Project.

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